Snow White Bath 2024 - Reviews

The reviews are starting to come in …

And they’re looking pretty, pretty good.

Once again written by and starring local hero Jon Monie, alongside Dame supreme Nick Wilton, here is panto perfection, a fantastic, funny, fabulous, family-friendly fiesta of daftness and Christmasness all wrapped with every panto cliche you could want, and plenty more besides…

But of course, front and centre are Monie and Wilton, the thinking family’s Chuckle Brothers, a double act that just matures over the years and gets better each time out. Yes the jokes are corny and yes, you have seen some of the routines before, but then this is panto and it’s just what we want.

https://thebathandwiltshireparent.co.uk/2024/12/review-snow-white-and-the-seven-dwarfs-at-the-theatre-royal-bath-2/

Back for his 25th year in panto, the dame, let’s call him Grand Dame Nick Wilton, is huge fun to watch. Dilly Donut’s clothes alone are hysterical – all pink and blues with monster bows and hearts aplenty, but it’s in Wilton’s immaculate sense of timing and his hints that the poor old thing is getting flustered by the pace that the real laughs come – a masterclass of buffoonery. His partnership with Monie is a great double act.

https://stagetalkmagazine.com/p/34994

Featuring a stellar cast led by Olivia Birchenough, Jon Monie, and Nick Wilton, this delightful panto delivers festive fun, laughter, and dazzling spectacle to audiences of all ages…

Adding a touch of flamboyant fun to the proceedings, Nick Wilton’ reprises his role as the dame and Muddles’ long suffering mum, delighting audiences with his larger-than-life personality and increasingly outrageous costumes.

https://www.globalmousetravels.com/bath-pantomime-theatre-royal-bath-review/

(Jon Monie) has established a great on-stage relationship with Nick Wilton as Dame, and with the addition of Emma Norman, this year making a welcome return as the evil Queen, we have a trio of star panto performers at the top of their game, earning lots of laughs, boos and hisses from the excited audience. 

https://www.theftr.co.uk/snow-white-and-the-seven-dwarfs-bath-theatre-royal/

Bath favourite Jon Monie returns, in his element, as Muddles alongside Nick Wilton as Dame Dilly Donut.

The pairing is, as always, hugely successful with much laughter and fun along the way. Besides the classic ghost gag, Monie has written an astute parody of Park Life whilst The Twelve Days of Christmas is an absolute blast.

https://www.bathecho.co.uk/opinions/reviews/snow-white-seven-dwarfs-theatre-royal-bath-109167/#:~:text=This%20is%20great%20fun%2C%20with,warmth%20for%20the%20entire%20family

In keeping with Heritage City sensibilities, Christmas shows at TRB celebrate good old fashioned, proper pantomime tradition and offer audiences super-sparkly retellings of age-old fairy tales designed to brighten up the murky deep midwinter… and this year’s brazenly buoyant package ticks all the fabulous festive frivolity boxes…

TRB panto stalwart and writer Jon Monie (plays) Snow White’s best mate Muddles, his super-fast, quickfire asides and instinctive comedy timing aided and abetted by his long-term Christmas season cohort Nick Wilton as Muddles’ ma Dame Dolly Donut; if you’re looking for ridiculously raucous, rollickin’ good fun, Wilton proves, time and again, that there really ain’t nothing like a dame. 

https://thebathmagazine.co.uk/theatre-review-snow-white-the-seven-dwarfs/

The comic duo of Jon Monie and Nick Wilton take centre stage as ever with silly jokes and asides to the audience with traditional routines given a new twist…

Monie plays Muddles, son to Wilton’s buffoonish Dame Dilly Donut, hilarious as ever and flamboyantly got up in a series of outlandish frocks.

Snow White is hilariously funny as panto season starts…

Nick Wilton who plays Dame Dilly Donut is another favourite, having stepped into the shoes of well known and loved Chris Harris, who sadly died in 2014.

Nick has really come into his own and the audience love him, especially his outrageous costume changes.

https://www.somersetlive.co.uk/whats-on/reviews/snow-white-hilariously-funny-panto-9801731

Panto packed with enjoyably silly moments with all the funny, crowd-pleasing moments that veteran pantomime duo Nick Wilton and Jon Monie (as Dame Dilly Donut and Muddles, respectively) have become well-known for by  local audiences over many festive seasons.

https://www.thestage.co.uk/reviews/snow-white-and-the-seven-dwarfs-review-at-theatre-royal-bath-paul-milton

First day of rehearsals

 

Another Christmas in Bath!

Really looking forward to being back for my seventh season at The Theatre Royal Bath this Christmas to celebrate my 25th year playing Dame. As well as sharing the stage with the wonderful Jon Monie, it’s lovely to be working with Olivia Birchenough against (we filmed Jon’s online pantomime, Pantomonium at the Blackpool Grand in 2020); Emma Norman (who’s back again after her brilliant “Carabosse” in “Sleeping Beauty” last year); and Kieran Dumont playing head dwarf, Prof ( who I worked with in 2012 at the Assembly Rooms, Tunbridge Wells in his first panto).

Looking forward to making new friends too! Jon’s written another great script and there’s a lot of fun to be had.

Sleeping Beauty Reviews

Daily Mail

And finally... Is a panto

good for us? Oh, yes it is!

By Bel Mooney for the Daily Mail 22 Dec 2023

It was a mad and magical evening. For the first time ever we took our four grandchildren to the panto and enjoyed a precious evening of festive family fun.

My son and daughter were there, too, and all of us (me at 77, the youngest five) were merrily yelling at the stage (‘Look behind you!’), booing the Wicked Fairy, and laughing our socks off at jokes so bad they were hilarious.

One or two quips were gloriously non-politically-correct too, which just added to the adults’ delight.

The Theatre Royal Bath was the scene for this wacky Sleeping Beauty. So what if the budget is smaller than lavish pantomimes in Bristol or London and there are no big stars?

As an audience you warm to sheer verve and enthusiasm, wondering how on earth the cast can get up and perform for the second time that day.

Bath audiences have their favourites; for example, for 15 years, actor Jon Monie has played a leading comic role, and as hapless Lester the Jester he didn’t disappoint.

Year after year of panto, generations giggling helplessly, just as we were — and children growing up to understand how stock audience reactions like, ‘Oh yes, you are!’ pass into the collective consciousness.

I sneaked a peek along the line of the eight of us, adoring the expressions on the kids’ faces. The littlest one looked quite dazed at times, mouth slightly open, bemused at being encouraged to shout out and loving the whole spectacle.

This is what’s meant by the expression ‘making memories’, isn’t it? Of we four adults, I’d guess three thought they were only there for the children, and yet ended up having a terrific time for their own sakes. That’s the magic of old-fashioned entertainment.

Don’t we all need to boo the baddies and cheer the Fairy Godmother? Whoever you are, I hope you can conjure up a little Christmas magic this year. It’s there. Look behind you.

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Bath Echo

Nick Wilton as Nanny Nora is as glorious as ever alongside the excellent Monie; it is hard to find a better pair in panto.

Full review

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The Bath Magazine

Nick Wilton as Nanny Nora once again proves that, if you’re looking for ridiculously raucous, rollickin’ good fun, there really ain’t nothing like a dame: jocular, ridiculous, a tad Les Dawson-esque and dressed, in all scenes, in outfits of the worst possible taste.

Laden with lashings of good-natured good fun, dollops of wit and endless sprinkles of memorable magic, Theatre Royal Bath’s Sleeping Beauty is a spectacular Christmas wake-up call; an uplifting sparkly celebration in the midst of the murky deep midwinter… oh yes, it very much is.

Full review

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The Bath & Wiltshire Parent

Sleeping Beauty at The Theatre Royal Bath – fantastic festive family fun!

Christmas is here which means panto time at the Theatre Royal is back – and this year, it’s an absolute cracker!

Sleeping Beauty stars EastEnders’ and West End star Neil McDermott as Prince Vincent, Bath favourite Jon Monie as Lester the Jester, EastEnders’ Nick Wilton as Dame Nanny Nora and Hollyoaks’ Sarah Jane Buckley as Fairy Snowfall. And across the board, the cast is just fantastic, delivering performances of real comedy and fun – just the thing for a pre-Christmas evening out!

From start to finish, Sleeping Beauty is comedy gold thanks to a top notch script by writer and silly man supreme, Jon Monie. The truly is every inch a panto classic, with all the traditions that you can imagine - oh yes there are - as well as new scenes and set pieces that will have you laughing in your seats. Add in great sets, a fantastic fairy, some surprise and very impressive special effects, plus the obligatory audience participation, and Sleeping Beauty is a ten out of ten surefire family hit. We loved it!

The Bath & Wiltshire Parent

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The Fine Times Recorder

The essential requirement of pantomime is that it entertains and enchants, and the Christmas show at Bath’s Theatre Royal always does that, aided and abetted by the sheer magic of the venue, as the lights twinkle around the beautiful auditorium and the excitement mounts, all ready for the arrival of the heroes and heroines, goodies and baddies and the comics.

This year’s show, Sleeping Beauty, has been written by the perennial favourite knockabout and local boy Jon Monie.

Anchoring the show, as always in the Bath pantomime, are Nick Wilton as the loveable Dame Nanny Nora, and Jon Monie, this time as Lester the Jester.

The children in the audience loved the excitement and adventure of this re-telling of the Perrault tale, which is a spectacular celebration of the original. 

The Fine Times Recorder

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Stage Talk Magazine

This is a traditional panto with all the colour, music and fun you could want from a trip to the theatre with your family.         

Graham Wyles.     ★★★★☆ 

Stage Talk Magazine

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Bath Chronicle

We all love Nick Wilton, he is just brilliant every year, and this year as Nanny Nora he is more outrageous and gaudily dressed than ever.

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Bristol Post

Nick Wilton, a firmly established regular as the Dame, wears one outrageous costume 

and wigs after the other to the delight 

of the young at heart audience.

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Global Mouse Travels

There’s no better way to usher in the festive season than by embracing the enchanting world of Sleeping Beauty at Theatre Royal Bath. This classic fairytale, reimagined with a touch of magic and a lot of laughter, is the perfect family show this Christmas, creating memories that will last a lifetime.    

Global Mouse Travels

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Weston Daily Press

A Christmas cracker of a panto in Scriptwriter Jon Monie’s reworked tale of the power of true love. Jon himself takes to the stage as Lester the Jester alongside iconic panto mum Nick Wilton as Dame Nanny Nora. The pair are as hilarious as ever, their comic antics often played as a threesome involving the King (David Pendlebury) ,fussy old father of the Princess.

Full review

It’s All about the Story-telling

Pre-panto interview in Fine Time Recorder

Back in Bath

Thrilled to be back in Bath this Christmas – Full cast now announced for “Sleeping Beauty”.

The fabulous family pantomime at Theatre Royal Bath promises a laugh-a-minute extravaganza with stunning sets, top musical hits, fantastic costumes and exciting special effects to keep audiences both young and old entertained! EastEnders’ and West End star Neil McDermottwill play Prince Vincent alongside Bath favourite Jon Monie as Lester the Jester, EastEnders’ Nick Wilton as Dame Nanny Nora, Hollyoaks’Sarah Jane Buckley as Fairy Snowfall and Maisie Sellwoodas Princess Rose.

Review - Globalmouse Travels

The magic of panto is back with Aladdin at Theatre Royal Bath

It’s time to welcome panto back to Bath and the brilliant new production of Aladdin is bringing Christmas cheer to Theatre Royal Bath, complete with magic lamps, genies and a whole lot of laughs.

Starring Emmerdale’s Tom Lister as the evil Abanazar, this family favourite tale sees Aladdin go from rags to riches on a wondrous fun filled adventure, which features Bath favourites Jon Monie as Wishee Washee and Nick Wilton as Widow Twankey.   

This is a hilarious and magical production for the whole family which will fill you with Christmas cheer. Alongside Wishee Washee and Widow Twankey’s hilarious routines this production is packed with songs and dance routines, great costumes and lots of audience participation. 

The cast is filled with the talents of Alex Aram who is a fun and dynamic Aladdin, alongside Kaysha Nada as Princess Jasmine. Audiences will also love Maddison Tyson who plays the Genie brilliantly and brings a touch of magic to the proceedings.  

We love that Theatre Royal Bath pantomime productions also give a chance for young stars to shine with dancers from Bath’s Dorothy Coleborn School of Dance bringing lots of energy to the stage. 

This new production joins a long line of pantomimes which have been staged at Theatre Royal Bath, which date back over 200 years and once saw the 19^th century comic Joseph Grimaldi taking to the board and performing in Mother Goose. This year’s panto is also written by Wishee Washee star John Monie, who has appeared at the Theatre Royal over 1100 times with this marking his 20th season in Bath. 

This is a brand-new telling of the classic story and in true pantomime tradition there’s plenty of comedy, slapstick and amazing effects which the whole family will love.